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The head of an official inquiry into the deadly collapse of a Bangladesh factory complex said the building’s owner was the “main culprit” for the disaster because he violated construction codes. The cave-in of the eight-story Rana Plaza outside the capital last month killed ...
Throughout most of Japan, June is the rainy season. While all that rainfall is great for rice paddies so that we can have delicious new harvest rice in the fall, it makes it a rather dull month for seasonal produce: The summer’s bounty of ...
“I was stopped by two men in a government-registered vehicle, blindfolded and dragged off the street. They took me away to a house in a place I did not know. I was forced into a room with blood all over the walls and floor, ...
Claude Regy says the team at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) threw him the “best birthday party ever” when he arrived in Japan just days after the actual May 1 occasion. The 90-year-old French director is hoping for an even better birthday gift, ...
As far as debuts go, Shohei Otani's delivered. The celebrated rookie pitched fairly well on Thursday night, and though he finished outside the decision, he left the mound with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters well within striking distance of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
“Pole dancer! Pole dancer!! Pole dancer!!!” From the bellowing announcement thumping through the speakers, you might think we’re in a night club. We’re not. But, without doubt, the location is just as fabled as many nocturnal haunts, and the atmosphere is just as electric. ...
Most commercial art galleries in Tokyo — or anywhere in the world, for that matter — would be happy to get 100 visitors through the door in a day. Artist collective Chim↑Pom’s most recent exhibition, “Real Times,” which was held over six days in ...
The involvement of architects in redeveloping the many towns and cities affected by March 11′s Great East Japan Earthquake and the resulting tsunami is not as common as might be expected. Rather, local governments are primarily partnering for such work with civil engineering firms. ...
In late July, when the students of Osaka Institute of Technology’s Department of Architecture first arrived at the tiny port of Oharahama, an air of negativity hung over the conversation of the locals. “They were full of questions: Why did this have to happen ...
75 YEARS AGOFriday, Sept. 25, 1936 Navy to protect Japanese in Shanghai An important instruction was dispatched to the Commander of the Third Squadron this morning concerning the steps to be taken for the protection of life and property of Japanese residents in China. ...
During a speech to mark his receipt of The Japan Foundation Award for Arts and Culture late last year, there was one point that the widely respected film critic Tadao Sato was especially keen to convey to his Tokyo audience. “The city of Fukuoka ...
Whether you’re into cycling, running or swimming — or if you’ve got the masochistic bent of the triathlete — then there is an event taking place this weekend that is sure to set your heart racing. Not that you can still enter the marathon, ...
75 YEARS AGOSunday, Aug. 2, 1936 Tokyo gets IOC nod for 1940 Olympics All Japan is rejoicing today over the decision of the International Olympic Committee to award the 12th Olympic Games to the city of Tokyo. The vote was held in Berlin, where ...
In conversation, Tadanori Yokoo jumps nimbly between the past and the present. One moment he’s watching the sky glow red as bombs rain down on Kobe during World War II. The next he’s riding in a taxi with Yukio Mishima. And then he’s back ...
The summer just gets hotter and hotter for visual-art fans in Japan. Following on the heels of Art Fair Tokyo, which attracted 43,000 visitors to Tokyo International Forum last weekend, the nation’s largest art event of all, the once-every-three-years Yokohama Triennale, opens Saturday. Yoko ...
On the Japanese cultural calendar, visual-art events tend to take place in the more pleasant seasons of spring and autumn. Classical music and ballet have winter sewn up, with dozens of performances of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 or “The Nutcracker” being held ...
Welcome to the “art museum” where everything is on sale. At this year’s edition of Art Fair Tokyo, which was postponed after the March 11 earthquake and will be held July 29-31 at Tokyo International Forum, there are booth-displays from 133 commercial art galleries, ...